Sometimes it is difficult to understand the books you read in school, especially if they are in English. This is the reason why we wanted to see the drama on stage. So we, the classes AH12 and AH13, went to the Kuniberg Berufskolleg in Recklinghausen where the play “My sister Syria” was presented by the American Drama Group Europe on 20 February 2018.

The play is about the human rights activist Rachel who fights for freedom in Syria during the “Assad regime”. It was performed by an ensemble of five actors, who played the roles of fourteen different characters. The stage was small so the actors could only use a few props. We have different opinions about the question if this was a good or a bad idea. On the one hand, some of us think that it looked unprofessional but the others liked the way it was performed and the fact that they showed a lot with a few things. We especially liked the fact that they had drums on the stage, which they played on. The background music was also a highlight. Particularly the facts that they were native speakers of English and had Arabic parts too, made it an unforgettable theatre experience. They could convey the feelings of the individual characters very well. It was especially noticeable the moment when Safid´s actor cried. Through the successful atmosphere you got the feeling that this played war is real and in front of you. The only criticism we have is that they forgot some important scenes, like Safid’s death, so it was difficult to understand for people who had not read the play before.
All in all, it was a good way to stage the drama and help us to understand the context. We highly recommend watching “My sister Syria”.